Alexander Kohut

Alexander Kohut, (born April 22, 1842, Felegyhaza, Hung.—died May 25, 1894, New York, N.Y., U.S.), Hungarian-born American rabbi and scholar who wrote a monumental Talmudic lexicon and helped found the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

In 1865 Kohut assumed his first rabbinical pulpit, the beginning of a lifelong career as a rabbi. Excelling in Hungarian language and literature, he was appointed in 1867 to be superintendent of that nation’s schools, the first Jew to hold that position. In 1872 he was elected chief rabbi of Fünfkirchen, Hung., where he remained for eight years.